< Back to Front Page Text size – +

The "etiquette” of the real estate world: free services from buyer’s agents

Email|Link|Comments (1) Posted by Rona Fischman July 9, 2008 03:59 PM

I know you have seen those “free” market assessment ads from agents that want to sell your house for you. Prospective listing agents provide these for sellers to show sellers how that agent intends to market the home, if hired.

Buyer’s agents also provide an initial meeting with prospective buyers. Here is what I think should be discussed:

1. What type of agency the agent works in (dual, designated or exclusive.)
2. The phases of buying: the search, the research, the Offer to Purchase contract, the negotiation, the inspection, the Purchase and Sales contract, the closing.
3. What services will be provided during each phases of the buying process?
4. What are the standards of practice the agent follows?
5. What type of home does the buyer wants to buy? Is the search realistic, possible? How does the agent plan to go about finding it at the right price?
6. What are the market conditions in the search criteria? Are the better or worse times of the year to approach that market?

By the time that you finish this meeting, you should have a good idea about what working with this agent will be like. Then you should check references and choose carefully. I suggest you interview three agents before you pick one.

What does a consumer owe a buyer’s agent after an initial interview? Nothing, except goodwill and common courtesy. Please call back to say you have hired someone else, please say “thank you for your time.”

OK. Now what did I forget to mention?

Did you interview your agents? Are you glad you did?

Enjoyed this post? Get blog updates delivered to your reader. Click here.

< Back to Front Page

1 comments so far...

We picked our agent based on the fact that they didn't "talk" like a realtor (i.e. "now's a great time to buy, the markets getting better so hurry up,") and the amount of commission rebate we can get- only reason we're using one besides the fact that we don't want a seller's agent getting a full 5.5% for doing nothing.
We can look up all the same information a realtor can, so we don't really feel the need except for some cash, which is ours anyway.

Our method in our house search is: we find listings we like, we do our own research, we make a phone call to our agent, he sets up an appt, we go see a house with or w/o him.

Unfortunately, the housing market in the towns where we are looking at are disgusting for the first time buyer looking to get into a house that's not a dump; and people who are selling their homes still think it's 2005- as do the realtors selling these homes.

To all you Listing agents out there in the 495 belt (you know who you are) Vinyl floors, kitchens and baths from 1982 and no central air are not worth 550k. Haven't you heard the market's gone down considerably? They're going to stay going down until people like us can buy a house. So we'll wait it out. We're not going to be underwater the second we step foot in the door of our new 'home'

Rona- maybe on another post you should discuss the federal gov't mortgage bailout plan. This is a hot topic in my house, as we are disgusted with the idea of helping idiots stay in their home, while we can't find ONE that suits our needs at a 2008 price.

Posted by 1st time buyer, long time watcher July 10, 08 08:36 AM